The refinery, with a capacity of 660,000 bpd and a price tag of between $25 billion and $30 billion, would be built in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh. PTT has chosen McKinsey, Foster Wheeler and IHS as advisors for the project, it said, adding that the refinery would be operational from 2020.

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By VU TRONG KHANH

HANOI -- Thailand's largest oil and gas conglomerate PTT has
started working on the feasibility study for a project to build a mega oil refinery
in Vietnam that, once completed, would turn the Southeast Asian
country into a net oil product exporter from an importer.

Sukrit Surabotsopon, PTT's senior executive vice president
for petrochemical and refining, told Vietnamese media
Thursday that the study will be completed by May next year,
according to a report from online news provider
VnExpress.

The refinery, with a capacity of 660,000
bpd and a price tag of between $25 billion and $30 billion,
would be built in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh,
the report said.

PTT has chosen McKinsey, Foster Wheeler and IHS as advisors
for the project, it said, adding that the
refinery would be operational from 2020.

It said the refinery would produce 33 million tpy of
oil and petrochemical products, 50% of which
would be sold in Vietnam with the rest for exports.

Vietnam's sole refinery, the 130,000-bpd Dung Quat
refinery, started production in 2009. It meets only around one
third of the country's demand for oil products.

Local media reported last month that Vietnam Oil and Gas
Group, or Petrovietnam, and its partners from Japan and Kuwait
will start construction of Vietnam's second oil
refinery in September or October this year.

The $9 billion Nghi Son complex, to be located 180
kilometers south of Hanoi, will have a refining capacity of 200,000 bpd. It
will process Kuwaiti crude oil supplied exclusively by Kuwait
Petroleum International.

Vietnam imported 3.85 million tons of oil products in the
first half of this year, down 22% from a year earlier,
according to government data. Imports fell because the Dung
Quat refinery was shut for two months in
the middle of last year.

Dow Jones Newswires

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